NBC News: Pentagon to open more military jobs to women

WASHINGTON - More military jobs will be opening up to women as the Pentagon on Thursday releases findings from a congressionally mandated report on whether they should be assigned to combat roles, officials said.

Pentagon officials said they will announce that more than 14,000 jobs across the services will now be open to women – from communications to intelligence to mechanics -- but that does not mean they will be in direct combat roles, yet.

The decision on whether women should formally serve in combat positions will be determined in future reviews, the officials told NBC News.

Since women can already serve in most jobs in the Air Force and the Navy, most of these new positions will be for women in the Army and Marine Corps, officials said.

Women have been serving and dying in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since the conflicts began. Activists maintain that the military claims those women are "attached" to the combat units, but not "assigned" to them.